


Take Off

by fl_air



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-15
Updated: 2017-07-15
Packaged: 2018-12-02 11:22:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11508384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fl_air/pseuds/fl_air
Summary: Sci-fi dystopia AU. Sehun and Jongin are ordered to transport a prisoner back to central command. Sehun gets in over his head.Eleven 100-word drabbles.Warnings in author's notes.





	Take Off

_x_

 

It’s an important mission, Minseok tells them: a five day trip to central command, no deviation from the flight plan, no contact with other vessels. The prisoner is to be secured at all times, and they are to take no chances.

“I’m sorry I have to assign this to you,” Minseok says, “but my absence would be noticed.”

“We understand, sir,” Jongin says.

Sehun would protest if it were Junmyeon giving the orders, but Junmyeon’s been missing for a week. “We’ll bring you back a souvenir,” he says.

Minseok laughs. “I’m trusting you to do what you think is best.”

  


_ix_

 

The prisoner’s sat on the floor with his back against the wall, legs stretched out in front of him, cuffed wrists crossed and resting in his lap. The stark blue light of the forcefield flickers over his skin, draws attention to the angles of his face. He looks thin. And short.

“Is he asleep?” Jongin yawns.

The prisoner smirks. He opens his eyes slowly, sweeps his gaze once over Jongin and Sehun, and then closes them again dismissively. Jongin leaves for the cockpit.

Sehun snaps. “You wouldn’t look so comfortable if you knew what was going to happen to you.”

  


_viii_

 

The prisoner looks at him then, curious. “What could you possibly know about that?”

Sehun knows rationally that he shouldn’t say anything, shouldn’t engage, but Junmyeon’s _presumed dead_ and the timing’s all too suspicious.

Sehun’s too hurt to stay silent.

“You’re being transferred to a facility on central command. There won’t be a trial,” he says unnecessarily. “You’ll pay for what you’ve done.”

“That’s not how these things work,” the prisoner says.

“What could you possibly know about that?” Sehun mimics.

The prisoner raises his eyebrows. “I know a lot more about how the universe works than you ever will.”

  


_vii_

 

Sehun doesn’t need to stay and be insulted. He heads to the cupboard that serves as a galley and grabs two of the stimulant shakes for himself. Jongin doesn’t like them, prefers the pills, and Sehun is not in the mood to be generous.

(Junmyeon used to have to coax them into taking their vitamin shots.)

Sehun is in the mood to be petty though, so he takes a bottle of water and a nutrient bar, and returns to the brig. He deliberately leaves them outside the forcefield, and pretends he doesn’t fumble when he notices the prisoner scrutinizing him.

  


_vi_

 

Their cabin has two bunks, a luxury given that they aren’t permitted to be off-duty together. Sehun claims the bottom one.

He switches on his tablet, and props it up against the wall so he can lie down while still ostensibly doing his job. There’s nothing interesting going on in the security feed, the prisoner barely moving. Sehun lets it record fifteen minutes of silence before creating a loop. It’s wrong, but he needs to know.

Back in the brig, the prisoner is waiting for him on his knees. 

“Let me guess,” the prisoner says, “you’ve turned the cameras off.”

  


_v_

 

When Sehun doesn’t answer, the prisoner prompts him. “Tell me what I have to do to earn those,” and nods towards the food and water.

“What?”

“I’m teaching you how the universe works.”

The prisoner shifts his weight and spreads his thighs, tilts his head back, exposing his bruised throat. He smiles, but it’s so smug and self-satisfied that for a moment Sehun wants to punch him, wants to smack him in the mouth just because he can, fascinated by the thought of controlling something even as his own mind and body fall apart.

“Good boy, now you’re getting it.”

  


_iv_

 

“Shut up,” Sehun hisses, but the prisoner laughs. It’s a harsh, mocking sound. 

“I’m making it so easy for you, you know? You should be grateful, not that a brat like you would even know what that means.” He pauses, tilts his head thoughtfully, drops his voice an octave, and drops his focus to Sehun’s crotch. “I can demonstrate though, how to thank someone properly.”

“What do you even want from me?”

“I want the fucking water, obviously,” the prisoner spits, for the first time sounding tired. “Just make up your mind what _you_ want from _me_ , or get out.”

  


_iii_

 

Sehun banishes the forcefield just long enough to shove the water into the cell. Neither of them says anything.

Sehun goes back to his cabin. He locates the sealed dossier that Minseok had handed to Jongin, and tries to read it...

Junmyeon’s access code still works.

(Everything has fallen apart without him.)

The prisoner is purportedly one of their own citizens, taken captive two years ago by the enemy after his home planet was invaded. He was quietly released one month ago, no explanation given. 

Best case scenario, he’s a plant. More likely, he’s been turned.

Either way, he’s fucked. 

  


_ii_

 

“Why did they let you go?” Sehun asks.

Time, or maybe hunger, has worn the prisoner down. “I can’t tell you,” he says, hunched in on himself. His clothes are too big for him. 

Sehun hesitates. “What was it like?”

“You don’t need to hear about it.”

“I want-“

“No. You don’t.”

Sehun uncrosses his legs and stands up.

“That doesn’t mean you should leave,” the prisoner says. “Stay. Talk to me about something pleasant.”

Sehun tells him about the dog he has back home. About his family. About Jongin. About Junmyeon.

“I didn’t kill your friend.”

Sehun believes him.

  


_i_

 

The prisoner reciprocates, tells Sehun about his parents and his hometown. He keeps everything nameless, people and places alike. He hasn’t identified himself either, and the designation Sehun read in his file is clearly a foreign nickname. 

Sehun’s voice still cracks though when he says ‘Junmyeon’ out loud. Maybe it’s safer to just keep things anonymous.

Sehun deactivates the forcefield and steps inside, offering the prisoner a meal and a chance to stretch. He decides to be merciful, and sets the prisoner free of his restraints so he can rest easier.

The prisoner beams.

Sehun really should have known better.

  


_nihil_

 

“Can’t sleep, sir?” Baekhyun asks when Minseok arrives early to relieve him from his watch. No one had questioned Minseok’s decision to help cover the roster, given their recent personnel losses.

Minseok’s as diligent as always, completing the logs and running security sweeps. Silencing the alarms. Setting the self-destruct.

He’d received the all-clear from Jongdae the previous night. The prisoner transport had seemingly exploded out of existence, but Minseok recognized Jongdae's signature radiation pulse. It haunts both his dreams and his nightmares.

Minseok's escape shuttle has already been falsely reported lost with Junmyeon.

He’ll see Jongdae on the other side.

  


_*static*_

 

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings:
> 
> Major character death.  
> Dubious everything.  
> EXO vs EXO.  
> Originally written in bastardized shorthand in an airport departure lounge.  
> This is what happens when you call your album 'The War'.


End file.
